The Nairobi Securities Exchange (www.nse.co.ke) celebrated its 60th annual general meeting by taking key decisions to advance its demutualization into the final stages. It also made record profits for the financial year to 31 Dec 2013 and paid its first dividend to shareholders.
NSE Chairman Eddy Njoroge was one of the directors re-elected at the 60th annual general meeting of the exchange, held last week. He thanked the NSE shareholders for passing key resolutions and said the demutualization process is nearly finished with the next step the NSE doing an initial public offer (IPO) and then listing its shares for trading on itself. According to a press release, he noted that the Board had appointed Transaction Advisors who are currently working towards the Self-Listing of the Exchange through an IPO on the Main Investment Market Segment (MIMS) of the NSE, before the end of June 2014: “The Capital Markets Authority has received our final application, and we expect formal approval to be granted by the regulator shortly. This will open the door to the long-anticipated self-listing.
“The NSE’s impending demutualization will provide further impetus for the exchange to support the attainment of Vision 2030, further positioning our capital markets as the hub for East and Central Africa. The NSE IPO will enable a wide cross-section of Kenyans to both own a piece of the exchange and to share in the future financial success of this company with a very rich national heritage”.
The NSE had total income of KES 622.7 million ($7.2m), up 62% from the previous year’s KES 384.3m. Net profit soared 210% to KES 263m, up from KES84.8m and the highest in the bourse’s 60-year history. The total value of trading in equities was up 79% to KES 155.8 billion ($1.8bn) from KES86.8 billion and market capitalization was up 50% to KES 1.9 trillion ($22.6bn). The AGM resolved to pay a first dividend of KES 2 per share.
According to another press release, Chief Executive Peter Mwangi said: “Our strong financial performance in 2013 was a result of the very strong market performance and the efforts of management to diversify revenue streams from the traditional sources of transaction levy and annual listing”.

Demutualization – the resolutions
Demutualization is the process through which an exchange stops being a mutual company, often a company limited by guarantee, with the stockbrokers and other stakeholders as members. Instead it turns into a for-profit limited company with shareholders. This can help with management and with capital raising to invest in new technology. The first demutualization was Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1993 and since then most top world exchanges have followed. Some observers ask if for-profit exchanges really work in issuers’ and investors’ interest.
Special resolutions passed at the Nairobi SE AGM were:
1. Subject to approval by the CMA, the share capital is increased from KES 25m (25m x ordinary shares of KES 1 each) to KES 850m by creating 825m new shares which rank pari passu
2. After this, the new 850m shares should be consolidated into 212.5m ordinary shares of KES 4 each.
3. Subject to approval by Registrar of Companies and CMA, the company shall be turned from a private into a public company and new articles of association be adopted, signed and registered.
4. Subject to approval where applicable, part of the credit on the company’s revenue reserve be capitalized value KES 490m to pay in full and at par for 122.5m ordinary shares of KES 4 each. These would be issued as fully paid among the registered shareholders of the company
5. Up to 2.5m ordinary shares of KES 4 each would be offered for subscription to employees of the company.
6. Subject to approval by relevant authorities, up to 212.5m ordinary shares be approved for listing on MIMS. Up to 81.375m ordinary shares should be offered for subscription by the public, and the company will issue a prospectus.